Nadia Robotti is an Italian historian of physics specializing in Italian physics from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, including the works of Enrico Fermi, Ettore Majorana, and Bruno Pontecorvo. She is a professor of physics at the University of Genoa and an external project leader at the Museo storico della fisica e Centro di studi e ricerche "Enrico Fermi" . [1]
Robotti's books include:
In 2008, the Italian Physical Society gave Robotti their prize in history of physics for her work on Majorana. [1] She was the recipient of the 2017 International Prize "Le Muse" for history, the first winner to work in the history of science. [5]
She was elected as a corresponding member of the International Academy of the History of Science in 2007, and as a full member in 2019. [6]
Enrico Fermi was an Italian and later naturalized American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and the "architect of the atomic bomb". He was one of very few physicists to excel in both theoretical physics and experimental physics. Fermi was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity by neutron bombardment and for the discovery of transuranium elements. With his colleagues, Fermi filed several patents related to the use of nuclear power, all of which were taken over by the US government. He made significant contributions to the development of statistical mechanics, quantum theory, and nuclear and particle physics.
Ettore Majorana was an Italian theoretical physicist who worked on neutrino masses. On 25 March 1938, he disappeared under mysterious circumstances after purchasing a ticket to travel by ship from Palermo to Naples.
Via Panisperna boys is the name given to a group of young Italian scientists led by Enrico Fermi, who worked at the Royal Physics Institute of the University of Rome La Sapienza. In 1934 they made the famous discovery of slow neutrons, which later made possible the nuclear reactor and then the construction of the first atomic bomb.
Orso Mario Corbino was an Italian physicist and politician. He is noted for his studies of the influence of external magnetic fields on the motion of electrons in metals and he discovered the Corbino effect. He served as the minister for education in 1921 and as the Minister for National Economy in 1921. He also served as professor of the University of Messina (1905) and of the University of Rome (1908).
Antonino Zichichi is an Italian physicist who has worked in the field of nuclear physics. He has served as President of the World Federation of Scientists and as a professor at the University of Bologna.
Museo Galileo is located in Florence, Italy, in Piazza dei Giudici, along the River Arno and close to the Uffizi Gallery. The museum, dedicated to astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei, is housed in Palazzo Castellani, an 11th-century building which was then known as the Castello d'Altafronte.
The Monte Carlo trolley, or FERMIAC, was an analog computer invented by physicist Enrico Fermi to aid in his studies of neutron transport.
Edoardo Amaldi was an Italian physicist. He coined the term "neutrino" in conversations with Enrico Fermi distinguishing it from the heavier "neutron". He has been described as "one of the leading nuclear physicists of the twentieth century." He was involved in the anti-nuclear peace movement.
Paolo Gorini was an Italian mathematician, professor, scientist, and politician renowned as a pioneer of cremation in Europe, primarily in the United Kingdom.
Quirino Francesco Valentino Majorana was an Italian experimental physicist who investigated a wide range of phenomena during his long career as professor of physics at the Universities of Rome, Turin (1916–1921), and Bologna (1921–1934).
Science and technology in Italy has a long presence, from the Roman era and the Renaissance. Through the centuries, Italy has advanced the scientific community which produced many significant inventions and discoveries in biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, astronomy and the other sciences. In 2019 Italy was the 6th world producer of scientific articles publishing more than 155,000 documents. From 1996 to 2000 it published a total of 2 million scientific articles. Italy was ranked 28th in the Global Innovation Index in 2022.
The Società Italiana di Fisica (SIF) or Italian Physical Society was founded in 1897 and is a non-profit organization whose aim is to promote, encourage, protect the study and the progress of physics in Italy and in the world.
Enrico Crispolti was an Italian art critic, curator and art historian. From 1984 to 2005, he was professor of history of contemporary art at the Università degli Studi di Siena, and director of the school of specialisation in art history. He previously taught at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome (1966–1973) and at the Università degli Studi di Salerno (1973–1984). He was author of the catalogues raisonnés of the works of Enrico Baj, Lucio Fontana and Renato Guttuso. He died in Rome on 8 December 2018.
The Reale Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale was an Italian museum founded on 22 February 1775 in Florence that survived until 1878, when its collections were split up in various Florentine museums.
Francesco Guerra is an Italian mathematical physicist, whose main research contributions are in quantum field theory and spin glasses.
Giorgio Benedek is an Italian physicist, academic and researcher. He is an Emeritus Professor of Physics of Matter at University of Milano-Bicocca and Director of the International School of Solid State Physics at Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture.
Luigi Arialdo Radicati di Bròzolo was an Italian theoretical physicist
The Milan school of physics indicates the tradition of research in the field of physics in Milan, with particular reference to the first and second half of the 20th century, when under the impulse of Orso Mario Corbino and Antonio Garbasso, and with the chair of theoretical physics by Aldo Pontremoli, the so-called Institute of Complementary Physics of Milan was formed at the University of Milan.
Francesco Cesare Casula is a Sardinian historian from Italy.